Cold Shoulder
by Batty Badger
Summary: Blake makes her way to Patch, the home of Yang Xiao Long. How is her arrival received? One-off.


"Blake? What are you doing here?" Yang was surprised to see her partner standing in the doorway.

"You told me you grew up on Patch. I just had to ask around for a while. Eventually I found somebody who knew who you and Ruby were."

"No, Blake, I didn't ask _how_ you got here? I asked 'What are you doing here?' What could possibly make you think I wanted to see you?"

"Yang?" The look on Blake's face spelled betrayal.

"That. That look right there - that's a _taste_ of what it's like to be _your_ partner, Blake. You were right. I should've listened to you in Mountain Glenn. All you do is run from your problems - and frankly, I'm tired of having a partner who doesn't have my back."

Blake raised her voice to push back. "I've always had your back, Yang."

"Do you really believe that?"

The question brought Blake pause. It gave Yang just enough time to start up again, with rising anger.

"Let's see, Blake - you didn't tell me you were a faunus -"

"I didn't know how you would react -"

Yang ignored the expected excuse and continued on, rage still building "You didn't believe me when I told you Mercury attacked _me_ in the finals!"

"Yang, you saw the footage -"

"And to top it off, when I came looking for you, out of _concern_ for my teammate, I was _maimed!_ I passed out.. and what did you do Blake? You ran. I woke up in the hospital, and you hadn't even stayed long enough to be there - to see if I was okay." Yang's eyes had gone red by this point, but tears were falling from them. Even her body had betrayed her.

Quietly, almost inaudibly, Blake responded, "The doctors said you'd make it."

"Surviving is _not the same_ as being okay. You know that."

Blake was in tears now too. Somehow she felt even worse now than she had on the night everything went wrong.

"Well, then... I'm sorry for disturbing you. I'm.. sorry for everything. I'll let you rest now." She shut the door behind her and made her way outside. She found a leafless tree and sank down into the snow at it's trunk. She brought her knees to her face and buried her head in them as she cried.

A moment later the door to the small house opened, and Blake looked up through her tears. It was Yang's father, Taiyang, who had let her in.

"It's pretty cold out," he said.

"I'm fine."

"That's a lie," he said blatantly. "Neither of you girls are fine. Neither of you are even close."

"I figured you'd heard all that."

"Yang does a lot of things well. Controlling her anger has never been one of them. That's why she's in the guest room - so the girls could recover separately, at their own pace.  
"You all saw terrible things that night - _experienced_ terrible things. I assumed, correctly, that Ruby would bounce back pretty quickly. At least as much as could be possible. But Yang... we knew she'd need more time."

"Has she been like this the whole time?"

"She's been pretty sullen. There have been a few flare-ups of anger, but mostly she just lies there, quiet."

For a moment they both stayed silent, contemplating Yang's situation, and if there was anything that could be done. It was a thought that had rarely left Taiyang's head the past few months.

Then Taiyang spoke again. "Like I said, the girls' room is empty. You're welcome to stay for as long as it takes."

"'As long as it takes?'" Blake echoed, perplexed.

"To get her back on her feet."

"You think I should stay?"

"You think you should _go_? You really are a runner, aren't you?"

Blake gave Taiyang the same glare she'd given Sun when he joked about her being in a 'cult'.

"Hey, you wouldn't be the first I've known."

Blake suspected he was speaking of Yang's mother. Still, Blake wasn't convinced staying was the best plan. "There's so much going on out there right now. Believe it or not, I can handle myself. I can help."

"I don't doubt that you could help out there, Blake. But you just saw firsthand, there's a lot going on here, too. That was the most emotion I've seen or heard from her since she's been home."

"Those weren't very positive emotions. I really don't think she wants to see me."

"None of her emotions have been positive. How could they be? And if she doesn't want to see you, she doesn't have to. She takes her meals in bed, she'll probably keep the door shut, you'll be sleeping in a separate room."

"You really think I should stay?"

"It sounds like you've made mistakes. And that's not an accusation, we've all made mistakes. I don't know you very well. Only what the girls have told me, but it seems to me, you have a chance to fix something right here. That doesn't always happen.  
"Yang and I... we've both lost a lot of people. Please... don't be another for her."

Blake looked up at him again - eye contact wasn't a strong suit of hers - and smiled. "I'll be in soon."

Taiyang smiled back, turned, and went back inside.

Once he was gone, Blake pulled out a notebook and a pen from the small travel bag she had brought, and began writing.

 _Dear Weiss,_

 _Could you or your sister please get me in touch with General Ironwood?_


End file.
